Mindful Monday: Get Back on Track

Okay. I know it's Tuesday. But that's part of what we're doing this week. Trying to the best of our ability to re-establish our daily routine.

For the last two weeks there have been family in town, mad holiday preparations and celebrations and Papa home from work. It's been fun. Bedtimes have been erratic (almost to the point of non-existance most nights. Yawn.) Eating has been haphazard and involving more sweets than usual. I'm glad it's time to get back to our dull, fairly predictable, life.

Who: All the family
What: Re-establish our habits and routines. Get ready for a new school month that starts next week.
Why: We intentionally let most our routines disappear for the month of December. It's that time of year. But we also know that our housekeeping schedule, bedtimes, circle times, and so on, keep us sane. It's time to call back a little bit of that sanity.
How: Papa is back at work, and though we miss him, that helps re-create our habits. We will keep on with our morning circle (the only thing that didn't fall apart in the Holidays, thank goodness!). I will try to get the housekeeping back to the established schedule. The kids will go to bed at bedtime, movies will happen on movie nights, and so on. I anticipate this taking two weeks to really get back, but that's okay. I have to work extra this week and next at our food co-op, so I'm giving myself a little leeway to re-establish our days over the two weeks. This will also get us ready to delve back into our school work in January.

Here's to sanity!

Mindful Monday: Ride the Crazy Wave

It's the holidays. It's festive. It's crazy. There are little people in my world who are so excited they simply cannot contain themselves.

Family comes into town this weekend. We go with my family (all 12 or so of us) to the beach for four days of solid merriment. We get home from that and get ready for Christmas. We don't start coming down until after New Years.

Everything is upset; my housekeeping schedule, my blogging schedule, the kids routine.

My Mindful Monday this week is to do what needs to be done, enjoy the madness, release the blog schedule, but try to keep (somewhat) to the housekeeping schedule. I'll keep posting through the next few weeks, sharing the holiday madness with you all, but I'll do it on my schedule, as I want to or have time to.

Because my real Mindful Monday is to enjoy the Holidays and all the chaotic, glittering, exuberant madness.

Simple Saturday - The Holiday Edition: Adjustments

Over the next month or so I want to share Holiday plans and preparations with you. Of all the things I do as a parent, the hardest to simplify is the Holiday season. There's Christmas, which is a simplicity nightmare in itself. But there is also both mine and Papas birthdays. And my side of the family does a four day beach trip for Winter Solstice. Starting with Thanksgiving, it feels like a tinsel-festooned roller coaster that I cant stop.

I'll claim responsibility for a fair part of the chaos. I love decorating and baking cookies. I love making thoughtful gifts. I want to have traditions sprinkled throughout the month and those traditions take time and thought and energy. But I love it.

What we are slowly learning to do as a family is adjust our expectations - and to help those around us adjust theirs.

After the first Christmas with Brother, Papa-Bug and I realized we wanted some holiday time quiet at home. We stopped going to his parents house for the whole day of presents and movies and dinner and what not. It was always kind of exhausting and meant a day out and social. We want the Little-Bugs to enjoy the mellow pace of the holidays, as well as the familial gaiety. Now we have Christmas morning at home - slow, unscheduled, mellow, and growing our own traditions. We go to Grandma and Grandpa's for a dinner and presents.

This was disappointing for the grandparents, and for that I feel bad. But... These are the holidays and I don't want us to go through them feeling like I have to meet others holiday standards and expectations. It's important that we all feel comfortable and festive. It's important to me that my kids have traditions linked to home.

This year, just this past week, we broke with tradition and spent Thanksgiving with Brother-Bug's God Patents instead of at a grandparent house. It was so relaxing. It was the Thanksgiving I have been wishing for. Close, quiet, no expectations, no historical familial drama... Good food and lots to be thankful for. Added benefit was watching Brother-Bug ground and center the way he does only with those beloved God Parents.

Again, grandparents were sorry not to have our presence and for that I am sorry.

I'm not sorry for taking my family's traditions into my mind and hands, making them into holidays that meet the needs and dreams of me, Papa-Bug, and the Little-Bugs. Those dreams will certainly involve biological and extended family. We are truly blessed that we have so many loving people who want to celebrate with us. I keep in mind that I am responsible for the Little-Bugs in this house having a fabulous time, and for building traditions that are comfortable and sustainable for many years. I am not responsible for how other people feel when I adjust our family's traditions and Holiday commitments. We will continue to search for balance between obligation, expectation, dreams, desires, and realities. My focus is on having fun, all of us looking forward to each new holiday delight, sharing with family sometimes, with friends sometimes, and staying quietly at home reading "A Child's Christmas in Wales" sometimes.

Every year I find a place or two that I can make a change and adjust my expectations. When I am looking forward to the holidays and looking for ways to simplify those holidays, a good place to start, in my experience, is with how much we do and with whom we do it.

Housekeeping Week - Friday

After the craziness that is any week input home, I'm ready to slow down and have a not-so-essential chore on Friday. One that I can comfortably miss if we are out of town or there has been too much going on and we need a down day.

Friday is Clean the Bedroom Day.

We use the bedroom for sleeping, movies, and getting dressed, so it doesn't get very messy over the course of a week, but of I don't put it on the schedule it gets pretty darn messy before I prioritize it. And I feel that we all sleep better if we are sleeping in clean space.


To get this room good enough I
*clear the surfaces.
*put the clean laundry away, and the dirty laundry in the laundry room.
*pick up the random stuff.

Ultimately I try to
*dust.
*vacuum.
*wash the sheets.




Because its such a light set of tasks, Friday is also the day I clean the hall.

Like the bedroom, it doesn't need much. I feel it's good enough if I
*do a quick tidy up on our family desk.
*sweep.

Ultimately I try to
*dust the desk and photos hanging in the hall.
*organize the random piles that grow on the desk.
*wash the floor.

Mostly I can get through both these tasks with ease, leaving the rest of the day free for a quick living room pick up.

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Housekeeping schedule benefit! I don't have to worry about messes (smallish, non-sticky messes anyway) when I see them. I know that it will be less than a week - and usually less than four days - until I clean it up. I don't have to do it now, or think about those dust bunnies because I know when I will be thinking about them. My mind is free to pursue more interesting things.

Housekeeping Week - Thursday

Paradoxically, Thursday is also my favorite, and for the opposite reason of Wednesday.

Thursday is Bathroom Day.

Unlike the day-long cleaning evolution that is Wednesday, the bathroom is an easy chore that I get done first thing in the morning. I scrub the tub, pop the kids in their bath, and keep an eye on them while they play and I clean the rest of the bathroom.

I start the day with my chore already done, which is good since Thursday is also when I run errands.

If I am doing a 'good enough' clean I
*scrub the tub.
*clean the toilet.
*wipe down the sink.
*sweep.
*take dirty laundry out.

If the kids are both happily splashing, I ultimately try to
*wash the floor.
*clean the mirror.
*wipe out any storage bins that need it.
*deep clean behind the sink, toilet, etc.

This is really only a twenty minute chore, so that leaves me plenty of time to prep dinner, make the shopping list, and otherwise prepare for errands.

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Housekeeping schedule benefit! Because each room gets cleaned on such a regular schedule, it means that the ultimate things aren't always so pressing. Odds are all of them get done within a couple of weeks, and the basics are always covered.

Housekeeping Week - Wednesday

Wednesday has become a favorite. It is the Kitchen Day.

My habit has become to start first thing in the morning and slowly work through it over the course of the day. This chore has, by far, the longest 'good enough' and 'ultimate' lists.

For a good enough kitchen I need to
*clear and wipe all the counters (including under the counter appliances).
*empty the dish drainer.
*clear out old food & leftovers from the fridge.
*pick up the laundry room (which is small and attached to the kitchen).
*sweep and wash the floors.

Looks like a lot, but ultimately I also try to
*scrub the sink.
*clean the toaster & microwave.
*wipe out the fridge.
*clean the stove and/or oven.
*sort the odd socks in the laundry room.
*wipe down the cupboards.

This happens on Wednesday for a couple of strategical reasons. First, Papa-Bug has the car most Wednesdays, so I can assume I will be at home to work on the kitchen all day. Second, since I get home late on Tuesday, we don't usually get our after dinner kitchen clean up done and the dishes are just piled up after dinner. Lastly, I run errands on Thursday, so cleaning the kitchen the day before means I have a clear fridge to put the new food in, as well as a good idea of what we need at the grocery store. Additionally, having the kitchen sparkling as we head into the last part of the week feels good - up and over the hump.

I find, as I work through the day that other kitchen tasks make their way into my chore - like sorting bones and starting a batch of broth, making fruit leather out of some fruit that must be used, and so on. It's relaxing to be tied to this essential room for the day.

Today I opted not to wash the floor - we are carving pumpkins tomorrow evening and I know it will need a wash after that mess. I ended up with time today to start re-claiming the windowsill, taking off some old hardware that was making it look unkempt. I hope to make a little kitchen altar there in the near future - something to look at while I do the never ending dishes. 

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Housekeeping schedule benefit! Because I know I will have this extended time in the kitchen, I don't stress too much throughout the rest of the week - I just try to keep the mess to a minimal pile. The big things I will tackle today. This has opened up a lot of time the rest of the week for Brother-Bug's school time, my time, folding laundry, and whatnot.

Housekeeping Week - Tuesday

On Tuesday I have to be at our food co-op for my volunteer shift by 4:30. I also have to get dinner in the slow-cooker so Papa-Bug and the kids can eat dinner easily while I'm gone. I get home right before bedtime, just enough time to feed myself and hear how the evening was. So I need the Tuesday chore to be pretty simple and one that won't be really noticed if I miss it.

Tuesday is the day we clean the Playroom.

To get it just good enough, we
*pick up the toys off the floor.
*make the bed.
*put the laundry away.

If we are all feeling cooperative (and it wasn't too big a mess to start with!) we also, ultimately, can
*sweep and wash the floor.
*get the toys put in their proper homes.
*wash the sheets (since the kids sleep with us, I don't worry about that so much).



Also on Tuesday I water the houseplants. It's not a big deal, so I easily forget to do it - unless it is on the schedule.

Having the playroom clean on Tuesday means that Papa-Bug has a nice play space for his evening with the kids. And, like I opened with, Tuesday can get a little crazy, so this is a pretty mellow thing to get done.

Another aspect of the kids room that I recently added is the style of their toy storage. I found that a local ice cream parlor gives the sugar cone boxes away. These make for cheerful, standardized storage. The lid is perfect for writing what belongs in the box - and even if the contents are a jumble, the outside looks tidy.

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Housekeeping schedule benefit! Having a small thing, like watering the plants, gives me something I can do first thing and feel accomplished right away in the morning.

Housekeeping Week - Monday

I have been writing so enthusiastically about the functionality of my housekeeping schedule that I thought I would go through it day by day this week, detailing the how and why of each day's chore.

Monday is the Living Room Day.

On this day I do a through clean-up of our living/dining area. Each chore has a list of 'good enough' tasks and 'ultimate' tasks. Good enough is what I need to get done to feel comfortable in the room.

For the living room, that is
*picking up everything on the floor.
*sweeping.
*clearing surfaces.
*tidying the shoes.

If I have a busy day (like two weeks ago when a friend and I made 7 gallons if applesauce on a Monday) I know that all I must get done are those four simple tasks.

If I have a little extra time, I can tackle any of the items of the ultimate list;
*dusting.
*wash the floors.
*clean the mirror.
*excavate under the couch.

I set this chore on Monday, because after a busy weekend (in which we probably didn't pick up much) the Living Room really needs some attention. Also, as the primary room we use (no family room or den in this house), getting it clean first thing in the week sets the tone for the next several days.

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Housekeeping schedule benefit! Since Brother-Bug has gotten used to the cleaning schedule he is easier to cajole into helping and understands which chores I will be involved in and so interrupts less while I get them done.

Mindful Monday: Creating A Laundry Design

Laundry is the mountain of mountains - the Everest that I seem to almost get to, and never quite climb to the top. Part of the reason it is such an issue for our house is that there is no good place to fold laundry. It's a Major Chore, right? All the other Major Chores have a place - dishes have sinks and dishwashers, washing the laundry has a designated space, there's a corner for the broom and vacuum to hang out when not in use, and so on. But not the unfolded laundry. Some people use the bed, some keep it on the couch, one co-sleeping mom I know uses her crib. But these aren't solutions.

All to frequently, our couch is unusable due to Laundry Mountain. I hate it. There is an answer out there. I just need to think about it. I need to think as carefully and thoughtfully as I did when I re-did the errands. Now is the perfect moment. Daisy Dog likes to sleep on piles of clean laundry, so I have no choice but to keep it off the couch. Papa-Bug made this wonderful folding table in our tiny laundry room - plenty of clearance for the dirty laundry sorter underneath, room on top to keep clean laundry and to fold it.

A place for clean laundry, made of recycled materials. I love my husband.

Who: Me (and the family as applicable)
What: Create a plan to keep the clean laundry flowing to its proper place...dressers come to mind.
Why: This is my Everest of housekeeping. I want to figure it out.
How: Watch the laundry dance, where it works and where it doesn't. Make a plan and implement said plan.

I can't tackle the "how" in a more detailed way right now - first I have to do some thinking and unraveling of the mountain. I'll keep you posted.

Organizing My Chores

Running a house is incredibly complicated, with myriad details to constantly track. Add the kids, the homeschooling, and personal/family/commnity pursuits to that and it's a wonder my head doesn't blow off.

One thing I found very effective in our last home was to organize my chores by day. I got the idea from Laura Ingalls Wilder, who washed on Monday, ironed on Tuesday, and so on. The first time I tested it out, it really worked. The system was derailed occasionally, but whenever I could pull it together, knowing what I had to get done each day really helped me get it done so that I could do other stuff.

Here's how I make a Housekeeping Schedule:

Step One - Walk around the house, thinking about each room, each chore, what you like about cleaning and what you dislike. How clean do you need each room to be to feel comfortable versus how clean would you love to have it be, if you had all the time in the world? Make lists.

Step Two - Pull out your weekly schedule. Note which days are busier than others and which days you will not be at home as much. Note when you usually go grocery shopping, when dinner runs late, or any other weekly details that rock your world.


Step Three - Start assigning chores to days. I break mine down room by room, tackling one room each day. This works for me because my house is small, and in a couple of places I combine rooms (bedroom & hall, etc.).Move the chores around the week, envisioning when in the day you will do the chore, who will help you - if anyone, what it looks like if the chore gets missed that day, what might get in the way of completing that chore, and so on.


Step Four - Find a way to display your new schedule for yourself. Write it on a white board, put it in your calendar or phone, put it somewhere that you can refer to easily.

I added some new steps this time around, to make it more sustainable. I divided my chore list per room into two different headings - the bare minimum of what I need to get done to keep the room livable and what I would ultimately like to get accomplished. For example, I need to at least clean the old food out of the refrigerator each week, but I would really like to wipe it clean if I have time. I can choose to do the minimum, do one thing from the ultimate list, or go for the gold and really do it all, depending on the day.

The other thing I did differently was how I formatted it. Usually I just note it up on the white board - which room, which day - and try to keep track of it. This time, since I had put the time in to figure out what was "good enough" and how much more I would ultimately like to do, I decided to make it a little more formal. I typed up the list for each room and printed them out. Then I covered them in clear tape and put magnets on the back. Each day is its own magnet, so I can rearrange them when necessary. They stick to my white board, so I can make notes around them if I need to.




I can add specifics for the day ("Order flea stuff") and check in with the dinner menu which I write above .



What I find when I do this is that I can let a lot more go each day because I know when I'm going to do the chore. Laundry all over the kids room? It will get picked up on Tuesday, so I don't have to sweat it on Friday. If I miss a week, I know I have missed only one week - I don't have to search my mind for the last time I think I cleaned the bathroom or washed the kitchen floor. If I don't dust this week, I can prioritize it the following week.

I add extra chores (like frequent living room pick ups or watering the plants) in bold at the bottom of the list. I try to keep the Kitchen Day on the day before we grocery shop, so I can have a cleaned out fridge to put the groceries into when I get home, as well as knowing what is in the fridge when I am at the grocery store. I don't have the daily chores (laundry, cleaning the kitchen, parenting tasks, etc.) on the schedule. I try to keep this specifically for general house upkeep. The other tasks find their time on other "To Do" lists.

That's what it looks like - my schedule of the week. And speaking of the schedule, I think it is time to go clean the living room and mop the floor!